Business Law for Consumer Commission v TPG Internet- myassignmenthelp

Question: Talk about theBusiness Law for Consumer Commission v TPG Internet. Answer: Issue Regardless of whether an agreement was framed for this situation, especially based on the offer and acknowledgment components, or not? Rule Agreement contains a guarantee whereby section A vows to satisfy a specific endeavor and gathering B pays party An, a thought esteem, which is settled on An and B, for undertaking the guarantee. So as to frame an agreement, which has legitimate legitimacy, there is a requirement for the nearness of offer, acknowledgment, thought, limit and intent[1]. The absolute initial step, which prompts the arrangement of agreement, is the nearness of an offer. It is basic to make a differentiation between an offer and a challenge to treat. The offer shows that the gatherings An and B need to make an agreement, where as the encouragement to treat shows that the gatherings An and B simply need to haggle upon the provisions of the agreement. The paper promotions or advertisements are esteemed as an encouragement to treat and not an offer[2]. In Partridge v Crittenden[3], the respondents conviction was subdued as the advert was regarded as a challenge to treat. It is likewise imperative to differentiate between offer, greeting to treat and a solicitation for data, as was held by the court in Harvey v Facey[4] where no different offer was considered to have been made. Upon an offer being made in an effective way, the acknowledgment must be accomplished on this offer. The acknowledgment hosts to be given by the get-together to which the offer had been made. So where the offer was made by A to B, B needs to acknowledge the offer. The offer can be denied uniquely till B doesn't acknowledge it[5]. Additionally, there is a need to acknowledge the proposal in the way where it had been made, and if the terms are changed in the smallest of way, it would bring about a counter proposal as was seen in Hyde v. Wrench[6], which would render the first offer futile. The acknowledgment date is taken to be such date when the acknowledgment correspondence is acquired by the contribution party[7]. However, the postal principles to acknowledgment is the special case of this standard as under this standard, the acknowledgment date is such date on which the letter containing the acknowledgment is posted by the tolerant party. The raison d'tre behind this is the postal office is given the status of the specialist of the contribution party and because of the activity of organization law, the acknowledgment by the postal office is to be considered as the acknowledgment by the contribution party[8]. The date on which this letter arrives at the contribution party stays unessential. Upon the electronic correspondence, the Electronic Transaction Act, 1999[9] applies. The postal principles of acknowledgment are connected to the necessities of segment 14 of this demonstration. According to this area, the date and time on which the correspondence leaves the send ers gadget, that is the date and time of the specific correspondence and not the date on which similar arrives at the recipient. This area is pertinent for offer and acknowledgment both. Aside from these two components, the arrangement of agreement requires thought as a component under which the gatherings commonly choose the worth which must be paid for the attempted guarantee. There is a requirement for the thought to have financial incentive for the agreement to be valid[10]. The following necessity is to have the aim of shaping legitimate relations. The gatherings additionally need to have the authoritative ability to make lawful relations as far as greater part age and adequacy of mind[11]. Application The realities of this contextual investigation are significantly thought upon the components of offer and acknowledgment. The advert which Lianne found in the paper, based on Partridge v Crittenden, would be considered as a challenge to treat as it welcomed cites from the gatherings who needed a gathering to be facilitated. Segment 14 of the Electronic Transaction Act and the postal guidelines of acknowledgment additionally assume a urgent job for this situation study. As the messages were traded for this situation, based on this area, the date of the correspondence would be the date on which it was sent and the date on which the collector read it, would stay immaterial. The email which was sent on 10 Jun, the absolute initial one in the chain of messages, would be considered as a solicitation for data based on Harvey v Facey since Lianne just mentioned data under it. The answer to this email was additionally not a proposal as just data was being traded under this. The three hour a short time later email was where the offer was made. On this, a counter offer was made with decreased sum as there was an adjustment in the particulars of the first offer. Once more, a counter offer was made with specific conditions and the higher thought sum and this offer was substantial for a predefined timeframe as it were. The offer was made on 10 Jun thus, it terminated following multi day time frame on 17 Jun. Thus, it was not legitimate on 20 Jun when Mary expressed that the cost had changed. The correspondence of Lianne on 20 Jun would not be an acknowledgment. At the point when Mary cited $10,000 on 20 Jun that was the point at which the new offer was made. Furthermore, the acknowledgment was achieved on this as Lianne sent an email in regards to the equivalent. Be that as it may, later on she sent an email to disavow this acknowledgment, which would not be substantial as the offer ahs to be repudiated before acknowledgment is given. The perusing or non-perusing of the messages would stay unessential based on postal standards of acknowledgment and area 14 of the Electronic Transaction Act. The estimation of thought has just been set up and different components of agreement have been accepted as being available as the as opposed to demonstrate this is absent. This implies an agreement hosted been made between the two gatherings. End To close, in reality a legitimate agreement had been made among Lianne and Mary. Issue Regardless of whether Lianne has any rights under the Australian Consumer Law, or not? Rule The Competition and Consumer Act, 2010 was a demonstration brought out in the country, for securing the purchasers and for guaranteeing that the opposition is appropriately followed in the country. Under timetable 2 of this demonstration, is the Australian Consumer law, which is the key enactment for protecting the shoppers. A purchaser is such an individual, according to area 3 of ACL, who takes administrations or buys merchandise to the estimation of $40,000 in the country, for their own utilization or utilization. Through area 18, the organizations are kept from enjoying misdirecting and tricky lead. What's more, through area 29, a similar limitation has been set with respect to bogus or misdirecting portrayal. Application The realities of this contextual investigation show that Lianne is a buyer as she attempted the administrations of Mary and went into an agreement with her for an estimation of $9,500. These administrations were utilized for her own gathering. Thus, according to segment 3, Lianne is a purchaser. By not satisfying the terms which were guaranteed, Lianne was misdirected and beguiled by Mary as she was furnished with an alternate food, rather than what was guaranteed. Further, the space in the pontoon was erroneously spoken to. This would imply that the two segments 18 and 29 were contradicted by Mary. End To finish up, Lianne is a customer for this situation, who had rights to sue Mary for breaking segment 18 and 29 of the ACL. The challenge to treat and an offer are two terms which create a great deal of turmoil in the every day lives of individuals. The disarray is because of the way that at specific examples, the specific correspondence can be taken as a certain something and at different occurrences, it could be regarded as the other one. This disarray can prompt certain liabilities for the organizations who give such adverts through the various mediums. In this conversation, the focuses have been placed for the consideration which should be attempted by the organizations while making the adverts to be distributed in printed copy and delicate duplicate. In the initial segment of this conversation, Lianne peruses a paper promotion which was taken to be an encouragement to treat dependent on a cited case. The purpose behind holding this as an encouragement to treat was on the grounds that the adjudicator on account of Partridge v Crittenden had dissected the wordings of the notice and applied legal principles of understanding for taking out its significance, which was at last considered as a challenge to treat, rather than an offer[12]. Where an instance of greeting to treat is built up, there is no requirement for the gatherings to finish the deal and no liabilities are pulled in on them as was found in Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots[13]. Be that as it may, this isn't the situation with each ad. To make an outline between a specific advert being a challenge to treat and it being an offer, the wordings of such advert must be thought of. Dissimilar to Partridge v Crittenden, in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company[14] the court esteemed that the commercial was an offer. The distinction between the two could be built up with regards to the put advertisement[15]. On account of Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company, the organization had given a promotion in the paper where it vowed to grant the individual who got the illness in any event, when they had utilized the smoke ball created by the organization. The honor cash was 100. Carlill utilized this smoke ball and still got flu so she went to the cash and guaranteed the honor cash of 100. The organization denied the case on the premise this was a challenge to treat. In any case, the court concurred with the offended party as they expressed that the paper advert wordings were such where the offer could be acknowledged by basicall y following up on it. Thus, the court requested the offended party to be paid the guaranteed grant money[16]. The ads are put in papers and in this developing advanced age, they are discovered more than frequently over the computerized stages. The adverts additionally incorporate the one posted on boards and on the transports. In this way, at each spot where the organizations post their promotions, they need to take care in printing th

Project Management with Mind Mapping

Project Management with Mind Mapping So with all the various project management tools available today, and there are a lot, I thought I’d share with you some examples of how you can achieve efficient project management with mind mapping. The great thing for me about mind mapping software is it can be either used solo or used concurrently with another project management tool. Planning a project and developing a strategy can be quite a time-consuming undertaking. Personally, doing this with a mind map saves me a huge amount of time. After an initial brainstorming session for the project, we usually have most thoughts and ideas detailed. When all the information is compiled and sorted into categories the project seems a lot more manageable, as there is a clearer picture of all the tasks needed to implement the project. How to Use Mind Mapping for Your Next Project? Whether youre going solo or collaborating on a project, creating a mind map to plan each stage is a great way to ensure a well thought out and well-executed strategy. For your next project whatever it may be, give it a go! This example is a guide on how you can use mind mapping for a collaborative project: Create a mind map with the title of the project Invite all teams members to be collaborators using a secure link Have a brainstorming session with all collaborators At this point, you should have a map with many topics, ideas, and tasks to be completed. The next step is to appoint a team leader who can: Sort and structure all the information in the map Delegate tasks, create deadlines and set reminders for each member Once this has been completed you will have very quickly created a project plan and a great starting point for the project. In addition to this, create another mind map with all details of each team member i.e. contact details, to-do lists and daily schedules; it can then be linked to the main map. The purpose for this is that everyone can see what the other is doing, progress can be monitored and meetings can be easily scheduled to suit everyone. MindMeister supports both iOS and Android on multiple smartphones and tablets meaning that members can literally participate whenever or wherever they may be! Some helpful MindMeister features for project management: Task setting Prioritize nodes Presentation mode Email reminders for tasks Task view History playback Email notifications whenever a collaborator makes a change Store, share and edit mind maps directly in Google Drive Link important documents, videos or resources within a mind map So thats how to plan and implement a project using MindMeister give it a try and let us know how you get on in the comments below ?? Update: since writing this article weve launched our task management tool MeisterTask, integrating seamlessly with MindMeister so users can turn their plans into actionable tasks, assigned to the relevant project, teammate, and due date. Map out your project plan Sign up for MindMeister Its free! Sign up for MindMeister Project Management with Mind Mapping So with all the various project management tools available today, and there are a lot, I thought I’d share with you some examples of how you can achieve efficient project management with mind mapping. The great thing for me about mind mapping software is it can be either used solo or used concurrently with another project management tool. Planning a project and developing a strategy can be quite a time-consuming undertaking. Personally, doing this with a mind map saves me a huge amount of time. After an initial brainstorming session for the project, we usually have most thoughts and ideas detailed. When all the information is compiled and sorted into categories the project seems a lot more manageable, as there is a clearer picture of all the tasks needed to implement the project. How to Use Mind Mapping for Your Next Project? Whether youre going solo or collaborating on a project, creating a mind map to plan each stage is a great way to ensure a well thought out and well-executed strategy. For your next project whatever it may be, give it a go! This example is a guide on how you can use mind mapping for a collaborative project: Create a mind map with the title of the project Invite all teams members to be collaborators using a secure link Have a brainstorming session with all collaborators At this point, you should have a map with many topics, ideas, and tasks to be completed. The next step is to appoint a team leader who can: Sort and structure all the information in the map Delegate tasks, create deadlines and set reminders for each member Once this has been completed you will have very quickly created a project plan and a great starting point for the project. In addition to this, create another mind map with all details of each team member i.e. contact details, to-do lists and daily schedules; it can then be linked to the main map. The purpose for this is that everyone can see what the other is doing, progress can be monitored and meetings can be easily scheduled to suit everyone. MindMeister supports both iOS and Android on multiple smartphones and tablets meaning that members can literally participate whenever or wherever they may be! Some helpful MindMeister features for project management: Task setting Prioritize nodes Presentation mode Email reminders for tasks Task view History playback Email notifications whenever a collaborator makes a change Store, share and edit mind maps directly in Google Drive Link important documents, videos or resources within a mind map So thats how to plan and implement a project using MindMeister give it a try and let us know how you get on in the comments below ?? Update: since writing this article weve launched our task management tool MeisterTask, integrating seamlessly with MindMeister so users can turn their plans into actionable tasks, assigned to the relevant project, teammate, and due date. Map out your project plan Sign up for MindMeister Its free! Sign up for MindMeister

The Great Surge By Economist Steve Radelet - 1424 Words

Victoria Case Paper # 4 The Great Surge In The Great Surge, economist Steve Radelet, provides examples of progress emerging nations measured in four scopes: poverty, revenue, health and education, and democracy. The Great Surge offers a pleasant contrast to the quick selling theme in many books and articles regarding a lack of advancement, insisting that standards of living globally have improved greatly since the 60s, and even faster since the 90s, after many factors that stunted progress were eliminated. Contrary to various economic books, his writing is less dry than most, with clear examples supported by convincing statistics that get to the point. A portion of this development happened before the 80s; however due to opposing factors such as tradition of colonialism and issues like hostile climates, scarce resources, and widespread sickness, many unindustrialized countries gave up the endeavor to escape the â€Å"the poverty trap†. Economic development involves change. Their success came after the fall of the berlin wall- sound familiar? Governments were more willing to improve social and economic structures to evolve, creating a more stable transition to a more prosperous economy, and nations began to focus the country’s education on technical skills such as math and science. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, as so collapsed the spread of communism to developing countries- there was less focus on a war between the U.S and more focus on globalization. Furthermore, as

The Food Industry Is Good At Selling Half Truths - 1480 Words

Many people have had that moment where they have stared at themselves in the mirror and felt self-conscious about their appearance or felt that they needed to change something about themselves to feel socially accepted. Physical appearance tends to influence many children, teenagers, and adults in their eating habits. More than that people have to realize that obesity does not only impact their physical appearance, but it is a health hazard. Between 1977 and 2000 Americans have doubled their intake of sugar, which has led to a global epidemic of obesity. The food industry is good at selling half-truths since they are making America an â€Å"obesogenic† environment. The sugar industry and large food companies are the prime culprits behind America’s obesity and diabetes epidemic. According to former President Bill Clinton, â€Å"We’ve got to change the way we produce and consume food.† Instead, we’re leading the way on producing the world’s dea dliest diet and exporting it to other countries. Healthy-eating activist want the government to tax sugary sodas, mandate expanded nutrition labels and restrict portion sizes (Kiener, Robert). To increase the amount of healthy people in this country, we need to take small steps. Therefore, the government should start by regulating foods with high sugar content. What is obesity? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it states that the definition of obesity is, â€Å"A condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fatShow MoreRelatedIs Kroger A Wide Diversity Of Strengths For The External Environment?851 Words   |  4 Pagesvariety of goods, it gives Kroger a wide diversity of strengths for the external environment. Some of the strengths are the fact that Kroger has an online market. 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Jason Leavitt explains in the article â€Å"In Defense of the Fast Food Industry† that â€Å"[the] real reason wages can’t go up is because they can’t.† The reason wages cannot rise that high isRead MoreEssay on Best War Ever1127 Words   |  5 PagesAmerica and World War II, the author explains and clarifies the truth about the many myths in and about the war. There are many reasons as to why the war was seen as something positive and as a â€Å"good† thing for our nation. Motives such as the media and Hollywood’s glamorization of the war, economic growth within the nation after the Great Depression, and government agenda all had part in this crazy misconception we all know as â€Å"The Good War†. Even to this day, the war and life in America during theRead MoreFood And Drug Act Of 19061565 Words   |  7 PagesEveryday you consume things may it be food, drinks, or prescription drugs. Most people will just absent mindedly intake these products subconsciously knowing that they are monitored by government organizations ensuring your safety. It has not always been that was and has progressed greatly throughout the years. although all consumer safety organizations may not be reputable, they do much more good than harm. Consumer safety is something that is extremely important to the American family, and hasRead MoreFood And Drug Act Of 19061565 Words   |  7 PagesEveryday you consume things may it be food, drinks, or prescription drugs. Most people will just absent mindedly intake these products subconsciously knowing that they are monitored by government organizations ensuring your safety. It has not always been that was and has progressed greatly throughout the years. although all consumer safety organizations may not be reputable, they do much more good than harm. Consumer safety is something that is extremely important to the American family, and hasRead MoreModern Sharecropping and Organic Farming in the African-American Community1380 Words   |  6 Pageshave food and that is difficult when famers are sometimes very far away. So, growers began taking their produce to plants where the food was processed, almost to an unrecognizable condition in many cases, and sold in cans, bags and wrappers to the people in the city who could not get fresh produce. This has helped expand the so called obesity epidemic over the past fifty years until over half of all Americans are considered overweight or obese. Another problem is that transportation of goods drivesRead MoreGenetically Modified Foods1787 Words   |  7 PagesPart 1 Genetically Modified Food ‘With genetically modified foods I believe we have reached the thin edge of the wedge, we are messing with the building blocks of life and its scary’ - Malcom Walker, Chairman and Chief Executive of Iceland Foods (Quotes from Scientists). Genetically modified organisms or GMOs are plants or animals made by splicing the gene and inserting DNA from different species of plants, animals, bacteria, and viruses. These genes would not naturally result in a cross breed.Read MoreCase Study - Selling Hope1730 Words   |  7 PagesCase study: Selling Hope Case Summary State lotteries consider as a marketing challenge. As a legal monopoly, they have no competitors which are a major aim of much advertising. The company only remain two objectives which are recruiting new players and encouraging existing player to increase their activity. 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With this; adverts seemingly appear toRead MoreEssay on Term African Slave Trade1700 Words   |  7 Pagescent of the total were landed during a century and a half, 1701-1850. 2 I suppose one could find a similar spike in the sugar trade of the Americas, as well as the Rum exports from the colonies and the firearm exports from Europe. A variety of Opinions One conclusion that might be drawn is that, in reducing the estimated total export of slaves from about twenty million to about ten million, the harm to African societies is also reduced by half. This is obvious nonsense. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp

Back to the Dreamtime Relationship of Richard and Joe Free Essays

The two main characters that I choose were Richard and Joe. Joe was the father to Richard. Richard was adopted by the McDonalds and lives together with his brother and sister and their names are Tom and Judy and his mother who called Sonya. We will write a custom essay sample on Back to the Dreamtime : Relationship of Richard and Joe or any similar topic only for you Order Now Richard was a teenage Aboriginal raise in white Australian society. Richard always get a dream about a spirit calling him and give him some scenes or direction to do something, but he can’t understand what the message trying to be carry out by the dream. Furthermore, Richard had scored a very good school grades and he wish to choose history as his study next year at university. Joe was a very good father and householder because he takes a very good care to his family members. Joe liked holding family meetings because he believed they were a good way to get the family together and discuss things. As for examples, Joe had call for family meeting and tells the children about the tjurunga that they found in the attic. Richard and his father Joe were having a good relationship, we can prove this by the situation that had been happened. Richard never made angry to his parent on hiding his father tjurunga from him for being so long. In turn, he worried to his parent because he felt his parent was felt responsible for the whole situation and shaken about this matter. Next, although Richard was trying to find his real father tjurunga and burial ground but Joe was never disagree with what Richard was planning to do. Joe was fully support to Richard by giving his opinion and help to Richard on what he was going to do. Finally, Richard finds his father’s burial ground and buries the tjurunga there. Richard also found his role that he need to record and analysis this rich oral culture and preserve it for future generations. How to cite Back to the Dreamtime : Relationship of Richard and Joe, Essay examples

Back to the Dreamtime Relationship of Richard and Joe Free Essays

The two main characters that I choose were Richard and Joe. Joe was the father to Richard. Richard was adopted by the McDonalds and lives together with his brother and sister and their names are Tom and Judy and his mother who called Sonya. We will write a custom essay sample on Back to the Dreamtime : Relationship of Richard and Joe or any similar topic only for you Order Now Richard was a teenage Aboriginal raise in white Australian society. Richard always get a dream about a spirit calling him and give him some scenes or direction to do something, but he can’t understand what the message trying to be carry out by the dream. Furthermore, Richard had scored a very good school grades and he wish to choose history as his study next year at university. Joe was a very good father and householder because he takes a very good care to his family members. Joe liked holding family meetings because he believed they were a good way to get the family together and discuss things. As for examples, Joe had call for family meeting and tells the children about the tjurunga that they found in the attic. Richard and his father Joe were having a good relationship, we can prove this by the situation that had been happened. Richard never made angry to his parent on hiding his father tjurunga from him for being so long. In turn, he worried to his parent because he felt his parent was felt responsible for the whole situation and shaken about this matter. Next, although Richard was trying to find his real father tjurunga and burial ground but Joe was never disagree with what Richard was planning to do. Joe was fully support to Richard by giving his opinion and help to Richard on what he was going to do. Finally, Richard finds his father’s burial ground and buries the tjurunga there. Richard also found his role that he need to record and analysis this rich oral culture and preserve it for future generations. How to cite Back to the Dreamtime : Relationship of Richard and Joe, Essay examples

Real Life Example for Money Rules the World free essay sample

With the advent of the World Wide Web and fast Internet connections, the data contained in these databases and a great many special-purpose programs can be accessed quickly, easily, and cheaply from any location in the world. As a consequence, computer-based tools now play an increasingly critical role in the advancement of biological research. Bioinformatics, a rapidly evolving discipline, is the application of computational tools and techniques to the management and analysis of biological data. The term bioinformatics is relatively new, and as defined here, it encroaches on such terms as computational biology and others. The use of computers in biology research predates the term bioinformatics by many years. For example, the determination of 3D protein structure from X-ray crystallographic data has long relied on computer analysis. In this book I refer to the use of computers in biological research as bioinformatics. Its important to be aware, however, that others may make different distinctions between the terms. We will write a custom essay sample on Real Life Example for Money Rules the World or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In particular, bioinformatics is often the term used when referring to the data and the techniques used in large-scale sequencing and analysis of entire genomes, such as C. elegans, Arabidopsis, and Homo sapiens. What Bioinformatics Can Do Heres a short example of bioinformatics in action. Lets say you have discovered a very interesting segment of mouse DNA and you suspect it may hold a clue to the IT-SC 4 development of fatal brain tumors in humans. After sequencing the DNA, you perform a search of Genbank and other data sources using web-based sequence alignment tools such as BLAST. Although you find a few related sequences, you dont get a direct match or any information that indicates a link to the brain tumors you suspect exist. You know that the public genetic databases are growing daily and rapidly. You would like to perform your searches every day, comparing the results to the previous searches, to see if anything new appears in the databases. But this could take an hour or two each day! Luckily, you know Perl. With a days work, you write a program (using the Bioperl module among other things) that automatically conducts a daily BLAST search of Genbank for your DNA sequence, compares the results with the previous days results, and sends you email if there has been any change. This program is so useful that you start running it for other sequences as well, and your colleagues also start using it. Within a few months, your days worth of work has saved many weeks of work for your community. This example is taken from real life. There are now existing programs you can use for this purpose, even web sites where you can submit your DNA sequence and your email address, and theyll do all the work for you! This is only a small example of what happens when you apply the power of computation to a biological problem. This is bioinformatics. About This Book This book is a tutorial for biologists on how to program, and is designed for beginning programmers. The examples and exercises with only a few exceptions use biological data. The books goal is twofold: it teaches programming skills and applies them to interesting biological areas. I want to get you up and programming as quickly and painlessly as possible. I aim for simplicity of explanation, not completeness of coverage. I dont always strictly define the programming concepts, because formal definitions can be distracting. The Perl language makes it possible to start writing real programs quickly. As you continue reading this book and the online Perl documentation, youll fill in the details, learn better ways of doing things, and improve your understanding of programming concepts. Depending on your style of learning, you can approach this material in different ways. One way, as the King gravely said to Alice, is to Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. (This line from Alice in Wonderland is often used as a whimsical definition of an algorithm. ) The material is organized to be read in this fashion, as a narrative. Another approach is to get the programs into your computer, run them, see what they do, and perhaps try to alter this or that in the program to see what effect your changes have. This may be combined with a quick skim of the text of the chapter. This is a common approach used by programmers when learning a new language. Basically, you learn by imitation, looking at actual programs. IT-SC 5 Anyone wishing to learn Perl programming for bioinformatics should try the exercises found at the end of most chapters. They are given in approximate order of difficulty, and some of the higher-numbered exercises are fairly challenging and may be appropriate for classroom projects. Because theres more than one way to do things in Perl, there is no one correct answer to an exercise. If youre a beginning programmer, and you manage to solve an exercise in any way whatsoever, youve succeeded at that exercise. My exercises may be found at suggested solutions to the http://www. oreilly. com/catalog/begperlbio. I hope that the material in this book will serve not only as a practical tutorial, but also as a first step to a research program if you decide that bioinformatics is a promising research direction in itself or an adjunct to ongoing investigations. Who This Book Is For This books is a practical introduction to programming for biologists. Programming skills are now in strong demand in biology research and development. Historically, programming has not often been viewed as a critical skill for biologists at the bench. However, recent trends in biology have made computer analysis of large amounts of data central to many research programs. This book is intended as a hands-on, one-volume course for the busy biologist to acquire practical bioinformatics programming abilities. So, if you are a biologist who needs to learn programming, this book is for you. Its goal is to teach you how to write useful and practical bioinformatics programs as quickly and as painlessly as possible. This book introduces programming as an important new laboratory skill; it presents a programming tutorial that includes a collection of protocols, or programming techniques, that can be immediately useful in the lab. But its primary purpose is to teach programming, not to build a comprehensive toolkit. There is a real blending of skills and approaches between the laboratory bench and the computer program. Many people do indeed find themselves shifting from running gels to writing Perl in the course of a day—or a career—in biology research. Of course, programming is its own discipline with its own methods and terminology, and so must be approached on its own terms. But there is cross-fertilization going on (if youll pardon the metaphor between the two disciplines). This books exercises are of varying difficulty for those using it as a class textbook or for self study. (Almost) all examples and exercises are based on real biological problems, and this book will give you a good introduction to the most common bioinformatics programming problems and the most common computer-based biological data. This books web site, http://www. reilly. com/catalog/begperlbio, includes all the program code in the book for convenient download, including the exercises and solutions, plus errata and other information. [1] IT-SC 6 [1] Program code, or simply code, means a computer program—the actual Perl language commands a programmer writes in a file. Why Should I Learn to Program? Since many researchers who describe their work as bioinformatics dont program at all, but rather, use programs written by others, its tempting to ask, Do I really need to learn programming to do bioinformatics? At one level, the answer is no, you dont. You can accomplish quite a bit using existing tools, and there are books and documentation available to help you learn those tools. But at another, higher level, the answer to the question changes. What happens when you want to do something a preexisting tool doesnt do? What happens when you cant find a tool to accomplish a particular task, and you cant find someone to write it for you? At that point, you need to learn to program. And even if you still rely mainly on existing programs and tools, it can be worthwhile to learn enough to write small programs. Small programs can be incredibly useful. For example, with a bit of practice, you can learn to write programs that run other programs and spare yourself hours sitting in front of the computer doing things by hand. Many scientists start out writing small programs and find that they really like programming. As a programmer, you never need to worry about finding the right tools for your needs; you can write them yourself. This book will get you started. Structure of This Book There are thirteen chapters and two appendixes in this book. The following provides a brief introduction: Chapter 1 This chapter covers some key concepts in molecular biology, as well as how biology and computer science fit together. Chapter 2 This chapter shows you how to get Perl up and running on your computer. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 provides an overview as to how programmers accomplish their jobs. Some of the most important practical strategies good programmers use are explained, and where to find answers to questions that arise while you are programming is carefully laid out. These ideas are made concrete by brief narrative case studies that show how programmers, given a problem, find its solution. Chapter 4 In Chapter 4 you start writing Perl programs with DNA and proteins. The programs transcribe DNA to RNA, concatenate sequences, make the reverse complement of DNA, read sequences data from files, and more. IT-SC 7 Chapter 5 This chapter continues demonstrating the basics of the Perl language with programs that search for motifs in DNA or protein, interact with users at the keyboard, write data to files, use loops and conditional tests, use regular expressions, and operate on strings and arrays. Chapter 6 This chapter extends the basic knowledge of Perl in two main directions: subroutines, which are an important way to structure programs, and the use of the Perl debugger, which can examine in detail a running Perl program. Chapter 7 Genetic mutations, fundamental to biology, are modelled as random events using the random number generator in Perl. This chapter uses random numbers to generate DNA sequence data sets, and to repeatedly mutate DNA sequence. Loops, subroutines, and lexical scoping are also discussed. Chapter 8 This chapter shows how to translate DNA to proteins, using the genetic code. It also covers a good bit more of the Perl programming language, such as the hash data type, sorted and unsorted arrays, binary search, relational databases, and DBM, and how to handle FASTA formatted sequence data. Chapter 9 This chapter contains an introduction to Perl regular expressions. The main focus of the chapter is the development of a program to calculate a restriction map for a DNA sequence. Chapter 10 The Genetic Sequence Data Bank (GenBank) is central to modern biology and bioinformatics. In this chapter, you learn how to write programs to extract information from GenBank files and libraries. You will also make a database to create your own rapid access lookups on a GenBank library. Chapter 11 This chapter develops a program that can parse Protein Data Bank (PDB) files. Some interesting Perl techniques are encountered while doing so, such as finding and iterating over lots of files and controlling other bioinformatics programs from a Perl program. Chapter 12 Chapter 12 develops some code to parse a BLAST output file. Also mentioned are the Bioperl project and its BLAST parser, and some additional ways to format output in Perl.